Help for 50 and 60+ Year Old Job Seekers

Question: My biggest fear is that I’m 57 years old and that when they see me, they’ll change their minds of considering hiring me. I was laid off about 4 months ago, after 32 years with the same Corporation.

Many job seekers in their 50’s and 60’s feel their age and appearance are a detriment to getting hired and that employers will change their minds after meeting them for the first time.

Don’t worry about your age or appearance — be proud of it and the way you look. If you see yourself as a hardworking and energetic person, then that’s what they’ll see too.

Use what have instead of what you don’t have. You’re not 35 anymore so don’t think you have to be to get hired. Play to your strengths which would be that you’re reliable, dependable, hard working, experienced. You’re not raising kids anymore (at least I don’t think you are) and you’re not bound to staying home with them when they are sick, like other women half your age. You offer many more benefits to employers than you think.

If you go into an interview with your head hung low expecting them to change their minds after they meet you, then they probably will, but if you walk into that room with a spring in your step and a glowing smile that exudes confidences, you’ll have a much great chance of keeping their interest and landing the job.

Don’t talk about your weaknesses as you see them, just focus on your strengths – what you can do for them. If they see your age as a weakness, then you turn it around and show them that it’s not a weakness but a strength. Employers want dependable and self-motivated people working for them – prove to them that they need not look any further and you’ll have a much better chance of landing the job.